Upon reading
about the making of Cloud Atlas, I
had a curious reaction to the news: a mixture of excitement and
wonderment; a
wonderment that was both an example of my sense of awe at the
filmmakers
ambitions and that of someone who was wondering if it was possible a
gigantic
box office bomb and critical failure was what was in the works. Cloud
Atlas may
still yet turn out to be a box-office failure -- that depends on
word-of-mouth
and how many people make it to see it in the theater. I am confident,
however,
that this is one of the most successful artistic endeavors in cinema
history. And
ultimately, the box-office numbers mean squat when it comes down to
art.

Cloud
Atlas
sounded ambitious from the beginning
because it was something different from what audiences have come to
expect from
Hollywood and even from the filmmakers responsible for making this
altogether
unique creation: the Wachowski's (creators of The Matrix
Trilogy) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). Cloud
Atlas
is based upon the novel written by David Mitchell. This was a book many
believed impossible to make into a successful film. Unfortunately, I
haven't read
it yet, but it is surely an amazing source material for the film to
have been
so remarkable. The Wachowski's and Tom Tykwer are impeccable filmmakers
and
they are perfectly in synch for this adaptation.

Before
you
even begin to dig further into this review, I might as well say that I
don't
intent to get into the machinations of the plot itself and the
unfolding of the
storytelling. This is an experience that requires a great deal of
concentration
and that should be discovered like any good story. The film is so
magical, so
relevant, and so wonderful... that merely going into plot-details seems
sort of unnecessary.
This is the type of story that you should discover yourself and having
a
reviewer spell out the basic ideas of the storylines found in Cloud Atlas would take away some of the
joy of experiencing the story for the first time.

Just
know
that the film features great performances by Jim
Broadbent, Doona
Bae, Tom
Hanks, Halle
Berry, Ben
Whishaw, Hugh
Grant, and
so many others. You might
also want to recognize that the score by Tom Tykwer and frequent
collaborators Reinhold
Heil and Johnny Klimek was perfectly composed and eloquently suited for
the
film. Or perhaps you are also intrigued by how massive a scope the film
has
through its cinematography by Frank Griebe and John Toll? These
elements in
filmmaking technique and style are uniformly impressive. That's not
even with any
previous mention of the impeccable special effects or the lush
landscapes...

The
story of
Cloud Atlas is difficult to try and
explain to someone. On the surface, it's a story about different times,
lives,
and paths taken. The film unfolds different stories at once. But it's
really about
how everyone is connected: how each person is capable of both good and
bad, and
how a good decision - an act of kindness, for example - can ripple
through time
and have good impacts on future incarnations. The movie is playing with
the
idea of multiple-lives, and of how everyone on this planet is
connected. We are
all as one and together. There is no division of race, of gender, of
any
boundaries that are normally defined by human beings as having any
particular
meaning. Cloud Atlas is a film
speaking out for the unity of all.

The
message
found in the story of Cloud Atlas is
one of the most beautiful messages I have ever seen in film: everyone
deserves to
experience love and freedom, and that everyone is connected. Everyone
shares a
commonality in life. Even in moments of great despair and moments of
great hope
and bliss, we share a common human experience: life is something that
lives and
breathes in each of us and we are there to experience our lives and
moments in
a way that can transcend time itself. It may sound hokey to some
audience
members, but this is one of the most unifying and transcendent messages
any
story could possibly hope to convey.

Cloud
Atlas
examines injustices given to
human beings as the result of ignorance and hatred against those of a
different
race, gender, and sexual orientation and it says to its audience: no
living
thing, regardless of origin, deserves to be discriminated against and
hated. Everyone
is equally deserving of living a life of love and unity.

It's
true
that all human beings are capable of both good and bad. This is a point
that
the film makes abundantly clear. Yet it is the film's hopeful plea for
compassion and unity amongst everyone that makes this film and its
story something
completely different from the studio-filmmaking norm. It speaks to the
audience
as a unified soul; a unified spirit. Watching the storytelling unfold
with an
audience is a magical experience too.

Cloud
Atlas could
have been a gigantic mess of
a film. After all, the story essentially blends multiple narratives
into one
unified storyline and it does so in a way that skips through time,
space, and location
like no other story. The film follows characters in the past, present,
and
future as they experience their connected lives. As I said, it could
have been
a gigantic and disappointing disaster. I was partially holding my
breath and
hoping that the film wouldn't disappoint me on an epic-scale.

The
great
news, the surprising news, is that
the film does succeed at being one of the most uniquely satisfying and
ambitious movies in over a decade. Films
like Cloud Atlas are in essence the
reason we go to the moves in the first place: it's a celebration of
life, a
visual wonderment, a voyage into the hearts and souls of humankind, and
a film
that marvels in ambitious, thought-provoking storytelling. After all,
isn't
storytelling one of the essential elements of human nature? People love
to tell
stories, share them; and experience stories themselves. Storytelling is
a
universal part of humanity.

If
audiences genuinely like creatively ambitious, unique, intelligent, and
exciting motion-pictures that aren't sequels or relatives of other
franchises
(a comic-book film is becoming of a staple of the industry, after all)
then one
can hope Cloud Atlas becomes
discovered by a larger audience. Usually, I don't make a call to
audiences to
see a film in this fashion in any of
my reviews but here's a film that deserves it: everyone should
experience this
movie at least once.

Everyone
is connected. In life, regardless of our time or our space in an ocean
"full of
drops" (to quote Cloud Atlas), we all
share a common experience. We must strive to be good to others. As we
share kindness
and love, we will receive kindness and love... and these moments can pass
along in
a stream of time into the lives of others. Cloud
Atlas is a metaphor for life itself, and something that aims to
make it
clear that everyone walks or swims along the same stream. It doesn't
have to be
a stream of inequality. It can be a stream of unity and of peace, and
it can
ultimately bring us love and happiness for ourselves and for others.
How's that
for cinematic worth? Cloud
Atlas is a movie made from the
heart: a deeply-felt and wonderfully-realized vision for the world.

Film
fans
who love the experience of "event" movies will cherish seeing Cloud Atlas on the big-screen, even if
they walk away from seeing the film with a need to debate the movie
amongst
their fellow film-aficionados. It's an experience that should be seen
on the
big-screen to fully appreciate the sheer scope and ambition of Cloud Atlas.

Film-lovers
are lucky that something as bold and creative as this was made today. Cloud Atlas will become a film discussed
by movie lovers across continents and across time.It will even become a film that is referred
to as not only one of the best films of the year 2012, but it will
ultimately be
known as one of the best films of the decade. It's as amazing as cinema
can be.
Make an effort to see this one on the big-screen. Cloud
Atlas is worth it.

Highly
Recommended

Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema, and a student who aspires to make movies. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas.